Judge may grill rebel MPs who defy Legg on expenses

Demands: Sir Thomas Legg's calls for repayment are set to provoke 'a lot of squealing'

Shamed MPs who challenge demands for the repayment of expenses could be put on 'trial' by a judge to justify their refusal, under new plans being considered.

Sir Thomas Legg, the 'hatchet man' who has been conducting an audit of the past four years of expenses claims, will this week send out his 'final demands' to MPs. The worst offenders are expected to be asked for payments running into tens of thousands of pounds.

But members of Sir Thomas's team fear that the number of MPs contesting the verdicts could lead to the entire process grinding to a halt - allowing some culprits to escape scot-free at the next Election - unless a 'quick appeals' system is introduced.

One of the options being considered is to bring in a senior independent figure, such as a High Court judge, to hold public hearings, at which the MPs would have to explain why the payment demands are unfair.

'This needs to be sorted soon, within days,' said a Commons official close to the process. 'If we allow appeals to be conducted in writing, it will drag on for ever. Disputes need to be resolved quickly, publicly and emphatically.

'The next round of letters will contain the big demands - the heavy artillery of the Legg process, including the hefty mortgage claims. There will be a lot of squealing.'

Those already hit for demands include Sir Peter Viggers, the 'duck house' MP who has been asked to pay back more than £40,000, and fellow Tory Bernard Jenkin, who has been asked to repay £63,250 which he claimed to rent a property from his sister-in-law.

There is speculation that this week's recipients will include the husband and wife Tory MPs Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton, who submitted claims for more than £80,000 in rent for a London flat that since 2002 had been owned by a trust controlled by their children.

The defiance is typified by Frank Cook, Labour MP for Stockton North, who has vowed to tell Sir Thomas to 'p*** off' unless the auditor can justify his demand for Mr Cook to pay back £980 for utility bills, which Sir Thomas has argued were wrongly claimed for his constituency office, and an undefined sum for the disputed purchase of a refrigerator from the 'John Lewis list'.

'Legg said I paid too much for a refrigerator,' Mr Cook said. 'I have told him, if he will please provide me with a copy of the guidelines that existed on that, I will think about it. I won't pay up without justification and, if the one they provide is not good enough, I will tell them to p*** off.'